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East Lake starts slow but warms up quickly behind the play of Megan Balmer and Krista Petit.
By RODNEY PAGE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2002
CLEARWATER -- East Lake and Clearwater each brought momentum into Wednesday night's Class 3A, District 11 game. The Eagles upset Countryside on Monday and Clearwater pulled off a mild upset with a win against Largo.
However, only East Lake would continue its solid play.
After a slow start, the Eagles scored three goals in each half to defeat the Tornadoes 6-0. Megan Balmer scored two goals and Krista Petit added a goal and an assist as East Lake improved to 11-3-2 and remained a contender for a district championship. Clearwater fell to 3-10-1.
The Tornadoes had some chances early, especially on two breakaways by Latecia Hardy. But East Lake's defense held and the offense finally warmed up.
In the 20th minute, East Lake found the net.
Shayna Hudson worked hard to win a ball near midfield and spotted an open Julia Weiss. Weiss shot from 15 yards and scored into the lower left corner of the net, just under goalkeeper Sara McBee.
Five minutes later, Balmer scored her first goal on a 15-yarder into the left corner that also slipped under McBee. In the 34th minute, Balmer scored her second goal, and 15th of the season, on a shot from 10 yards out. Jana Scherer set up the goal with a steal 30 yards from the net.
"We didn't have much time to warm up because our bus was late," Balmer said. "We only stretched for like 5 minutes. So the first part of our game was like the warmup. We played well once we got things going."
Clearwater had trouble getting off a shot once East Lake started to play. The Eagles outshot Clearwater 15-4.
In the 59th minute, Hudson made it 4-0 with a blast from 10 yards. Jackie Justiano, who played goalkeeper in the first half, scored in the 74th minute off a header from a Petit corner kick.
Petit scored the final goal in injury time when she knocked in a loose ball in front of the goal.
"I'm quite happy with the way the girls have been playing," first-year coach Andy Pitt said. "We've got some strong players, and we've been able to get some of the younger girls playing time as well."